When heavyweight champion Tyson Fury makes his first lineal defense on July 9 against former long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko, he will be attempting to do something only half a dozen champions in boxing history have ever tried to do before – successfully make a first defense in an immediate rematch (with no in between bouts) against the former champ he had just beaten to become the champion..
Vasyl Lomachenko made history on Saturday night when he defeated Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez to capture the WBO super featherweight title in his 130 pound debut. For Lomachenko this is only his 7th professional contest, giving him the unique distinction of becoming the fastest fighter to ever win world championship titles in more than one weight class. Lomachenko had previously won the 126 pound version of the WBO belt when he defeated Gary Russell Jr in his 3rd professional match. He defended that title three times before venturing north to challenge Martinez.
Oscar De La Hoya had an extraordinary boxing career which included many big fights, a lot of big victories, and numerous championship belts during his 16 year career. He won titles at 130, 135, 140, 147, 154, and 160, and he had the distinction of becoming the first boxer to ever win fights in 6 different weight classes.
Canelo Alvarez recently decided it was time to relinquish his WBC middleweight title rather than face fellow titleholder Gennady Golovkin in a unification bout. Many fans are outraged over Canelo’s reluctance to face Golovkin. It remains to be seen how this will ultimately impact Alvarez’s career and drawing power. But in the midst of this recent disappointment for boxing fans, many observers are comparing this situation to one that occurred back in the early 1990s when undisputed heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe deposited the heavyweight version of the WBC title into a trash bin rather than face his mandatory Lennox Lewis.
Wladimir Klitschko’s rise to heavyweight dominance wasn’t always smooth sailing. The long time dominant heavyweight champion had several major setbacks on the road to greatness before joining forces with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward. He had already suffered defeats at the hands of Ross Puritty and Corrie Sanders prior to teaming up with Steward, and then when the two had their first fight together, Wladimir suffered another devastating loss at the hands of Lamon Brewster. It was a disappointing start for the new duo, and in the end it would be the only fight they would lose together before Wladimir began his dominant reign which lasted nearly 10 years where Wladimir had hardly lost any rounds along the way.
Canelo Alvarez successfully defended his middleweight crown this weekend when he scored a highlight reel knockout against a ballooned up version of welterweight Amir Khan. This was not a situation like when Ray Leonard challenged Marvin Hagler, or even like when Oscar De La Hoya challenged Bernard Hopkins. This was something different altogether. Not only was Canelo defending the highly coveted middleweight crown below the 160 pound limit, but he was also facing an opponent who had mediocre success at 147 and had never even competed north of that weight class. This has become a sad and growing trend in the middleweight division, where the title hasn’t been defended at the official 160 pound weight limit in years.
Prior to Saturday night’s super middleweight title fight between Badou Jack and Lucian Bute, Showtime’s Jim Gray conducted a brief interview with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. During this interview the now retired Mayweather mentioned having had discussions with CBS and Showtime about a possible comeback at some point in the foreseeable future. He indicated that talks surrounded big money mentioned nine figures. But Mayweather also said that he enjoyed being on the retired said of retirement.
Unified light heavyweight world champion Sergey Kovalev is widely recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, and earlier this week news broke regarding not just his next fight, but his next two. On July 11 the champion is slated to defend his titles against Isaac Chilemba in Russia, giving Kovalev his first chance to defend his titles in his home country. But the even bigger news is that Kovalev has now officially signed a contract to face fellow pound-for-pound elitist, Andre Ward later this year, with November 19 looking to be the target date for the match-up. Ward is also expected to have one more fight before his fall showdown with Kovalev.
More than eleven months after suffering a one-sided loss at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao finally made his return to the squared circle – and it was against familiar foe, Timothy Bradley, who battled it out with the Filipino sensation in their rubber match this past Saturday. Pacquiao knocked Bradley down in round 7 and again in round 9, before ultimately being awarded a unanimous decision victory where all three official judges scored the contest 116-110 in favor of Manny Pacquiao. The performance was on par with the best Pacquiao has looked since suffering a devastating KO loss at the hands of long time nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez back in late 2012.
It has been more than 3 and a half years since middleweight powerhouse Gennady Golovkin made his HBO debut when he made easy work of Grzegorz Proksa. During the post fight interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman, Golovkin indicated that he was ready for a big time fight, and that anyone between 154 and 168 was a potential target. The words were bold, but the actions which followed told a different story – particularly when Golovkin’s team has declined opportunities to potential fight Andre Ward at 168 pounds, and on the other end of the spectrum, Canelo Alvarez at 155. To date, the “big drama show” Gennady has sought after against a marquee name has not come to fruition.